Friday night, April 22, 2016, marks the first night of Passover – the first Seder. We’re all busy preparing our homes, shopping, and preparing to cook for the holiday.
This is a time for gathering together. We read the Haggadah and tell the story of our deliverance as a people from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the land of Israel. It is a cornerstone of our being a people. So central is the journey from slavery to freedom, from oppression to self-reliance, that we retell this story each year. We can only appreciate our freedom if we remember our enslavement. We can only appreciate our wholeness if we remember our brokenness. We can only appreciate our own land of Israel, a home for all the Jewish people, if we recall our desperation and desolation when we had nowhere else to turn.
So – we tell the story, year after year, from generation to generation. And with the telling, we serve our favorite foods. Again, passing from one generation to the next our savory dishes, favorite recipes, each with a special name, with special textures and flavors, and with their own memories. These are the stories – and the foods, that bind us together as a people and keep us connected as a family. How very strong is the bond that stories – and food – provide!
Our family Passover seder this year will bring together nearly 50 people – mashala! – all somehow connected to my grandparents, of blessed memory, Isaac (Hacco) Hasson and Sarota Benveniste Hasson. Both were born on the Island of Rhodes (at the time part of the Ottoman empire, Turkey), at the end of the 19th century. Could they ever had imagined that over a hundred years later, their children and grandchildren, down to their great great great grandchildren, would still be connected, gathering together (in person and via Facebook) to remember their names, remember their stories, and together carry on the family traditions that they, too, brought forth from the generations before them! How wonderful that is!
Our Seder will include readings, stories and songs in English, Hebrew and Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish of our Sephardic family. The foods will be leaven free with flavors and names related to our Turkish, Spanish and Mediterranean roots.
I am including recipes for some of our favorites – Haroset, Keftes di Prassa (Leek patties), Megina (Passover meat casserole), sweet treats like Masa di Vino (Passover wine cookies), Moustachudos (nut confections), Marochinos (almond macaroons), and the all time favorite for Passover or for ANY time, Ashuplados (meringues).
We hope you will take some time to try a new recipe or two for the holiday.
May you enjoy your time together with family and friends; may you tell the story of our people and the lessons of our journey. May you tell stories and remember those of our families who are no longer with us physically, so their memories stay alive in our hearts and those of our children and their lives continue to bless us. May we keep the traditions of our ancestors and create new ones with our children. May our gatherings bring blessings – and may our hands, the hands that prepare these foods that nourish our souls and keep our traditions alive, always be blessed.
Pesah Alegre!
~Bendichas Manos